East Hampton sends out requests for qualifications for new town manager

JEFF MILL

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, December 14, 2011

EAST HAMPTON - The drive to choose a new town manager is picking up speed.

The Town Council on Tuesday voted to send out requests for qualifications (RFQs) for firms and/or individuals who could assist in the search for a new full-time manager.

In addition, the council agreed to hire a facilitator who will chair a town meeting next month that is intended to gather citizens' input about what they want to see in a new manager.

And the council was presented with an outline of the qualifications for the new manager.

The town has been without a full-time manager since September, 2010. Since then, the town has relied upon an acting town manager, an interim town manager, and an acting interim town manager.

But even before that, the town had a checkered history with managers, having had three in the space of three years.

This time, however, the seven member council is vowing to get it right the first time.

The council also established itself as the group which will select the new manager.

Council Chairwoman Susan B. Weintraub suggested that when it begins the review of potential candidates, she may recommend sending individual councilors out of state if need be to visit an applicant's town and observe the candidate in action.

Councilor Ted Hintz Jr., proposed that those councilors who are not as familiar with interview techniques could take courses or seminars to bring them up to speed before the interview process begins in earnest.

The outline of the manager's qualifications was put together at Weintraub's request by resident Dale Maynard.

Maynard presented a detailed proposal, explaining, "When you keep generic language in a proposal like this it leads to miscommunication about what it meant."

"The job is difficult enough to begin with; you need to clearly define the management style and culture," he added.

"This is an amazing document that takes us from a regular human being to a person who wears a red cape!" council vice-chairman Glenn Suprono said.

"It's a good starting point," Weintraub said.

Councilor Derek Johnson went further in his comments.

"It expresses our expectations about what we want the next town manager to do, and it also reflects our expectations about the kind of manager we want," Johnson said.